Running
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Lance tried running away from everything that was, yet found himself running away towards everything that is simply by choosing Gotham as his destination.


Disclaimer - I don't own Young Justice or X-Men Evolution. This was written for the final round of Fanfic Bootcamp. While Renald Ivanko doesn't show up in Young Justice, he is a DC character as are the faceless corrupt cops of Gotham. (August 2018)

**Running**

In hindsight, running away from his past by running towards Gotham wasn't a sensible idea.

Every other resident of the godforsaken city bemoaned the fact they couldn't escape the intrepid darkness which soaked into the core foundation of Gotham, yet Lance Alvers purposefully made such a bleak city his home. Lance didn't see any other options for himself two months ago when he ran away from his previous foster home, particularly with the local authorities getting suspicious when another earthquake-induced accident occurred in a small, earthquake-free town. Eventually people would make the connection Lance was involved in every single incident, but the kids he hung out with might blab the truth.

Of course, the bleakness of Gotham hit home quickly. He quickly found nobody wanted to hire him. More specifically, no legit business wanted to hire a runaway teen or high school dropout. On a good day of looking for work, nobody threatened to call the police on him for suspecting as much. The time somebody did want to hire him – he found the business didn't mind taking advantage of him in some manner. At night, he didn't want to think of this, yet many nights Lance fell asleep with an empty stomach.

Every time the Wayne foundation set up a food line, Lance showed up. He' quickly learned from other homeless people not to trust any other services provided in Gotham, yet nobody ever asked questions.

"Are you staying the night at one of the shelters? You're really going to feel the aster tonight, if you're not."

At least, most of the time people didn't ask questions, yet this time someone did. Lance turned with his plate of food, frowning at the nicely dressed young man. He felt his eye twitch watching the young man in his slick suit and slicked back hair, his mind wandering ever briefly to his memories of the rich kids at every school he ever attended. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. You don't look much older than me." The boy's robin blue eyes betrayed his curiosity, but the scarf around his neck matched. "Also, are you aware the weather's taking a turn tonight? If you don't have shelter, you should seek it out."

"I'm sixteen. I don't need a kid whose only ten telling me what to do."

"I'm thirteen actually." The boy quickly removed his scarf, before holding it out. "Here."

"What?" Lance took a deep breath. "I don't need your charity."

"It's not charity. I'm simply paying forward another person's good deed, but if it bothers you that much just pay it forward yourself one day." The boy draped the scarf over the young man's arm, completely bewildering the older teen.

"Dick. It's time to go."

The young man's head turned towards an older man also dressed in a suit. Lance sighed. "Let me guess? Your father?"

"Bruce isn't my father."

"Bruce? As in Bruce Wayne?"

"Yeah. I'm his ward" The boy watched carefully, then said before leaving. "You're not turbed by that?"

"Turbed?" Lance watched the teen leave before shaking his head. "Some people are just born lucky." Glancing up, Lance saw the storm clouds looming in the night sky and knew what the boy meant by finding shelter.

In some ways Lance was lucky. He worked odd jobs before running away which allowed him to save up and purchase a used jeep. The night he left his last foster home, he left in the jeep with whatever he could fit in his bag. The jeep provided shelter, yet to not draw attention to himself Lance moved the jeep every so often. Arriving at his shelter right before the rain began to pour, the teen flicked his fingers against the gas gauge, noting the fact one of his next priorities would be refilling the tank, yet the fact nobody found him because of the jeep plagued his mind.

A thumping sound startled Lance, making him turn. A slight curse left his mouth upon seeing the police officer outside the jeep motioning for him to step out. Reluctantly, he did, his eyes shutting tightly against the bright light shown in his eyes. He flinched when the cop poked him in the stomach with his baton. "What do I get in return for not hauling your sorry runaway ass to booking?"

"Drop dead."

The cop responded by twisting his grubby fingers into the hairs on the back of Lance's head. "I don't think you understand. I've not reported you for well over a month, so you definitely owe me Alvers." The voice hissed right in Lance's ear, yet Lance saw no partner with the man, meaning the cop was corrupt. He swallowed, as the man started listing off options. "Let's see. I can arrange for you to run drugs for the local crime boss, or how about being a test subject for..."

Lance lost it.

He felt his eyes roll into the back of his head, his hands move and the ground shake, knocking the cop backward. Normally, the ground shaking scared people away, and yet this time the cop simply grinned. "Oh. You're one of those types."

The baton hit Lance in the stomach hard, making him double over gasping for air. A sharp pain in the back of his head followed shortly after as did seeing stars. When he finally came to, he found himself behind bars, but not the bars of a jail cell. "Hello kid. I'm Renald Ivanko." The man spoke with what seemed like a Russian accent. "You'll do what I say, got it?"

"No." Lance spat at the man's feet, earning a shock from the collar now around his neck, telling him arguing would be a moot point.

**YJ**

The stench of the sewer made Lance want to gag. A brick wall stood in front of him, Ivanko and the men Ivanko brought with him. Each man carried bags for carrying loot, yet Ivanko carried a different type of bag. "_Great job Lance. You run away so nobody would find out about your ability, yet here you are breaking into a bank and escalating your previous juvenile behavior. You should have simply stayed put in your foster home._"

"Do it. Now."

Lance's eyes rolled into the back of his head, his fingers flexing. He felt the ground shake, yet also heard the brick wall fall. When he refocused his eyesight, he saw the crushed wall leading into the bank vault. Absentmindedly he rubbed the back of his head. "Could have just asked me, instead of treating me like some kind of animal."

Ivanko glared, holding up the device which allowed him to zap Lance at a moments notice. "Make another earthquake. Get those smaller doors open.

Lance sighed, bringing his powers not to bear upon the inside of the vault. The majority popped open, unable to handle the stress of his seismic ability. Something in the back of his mind wondered if this would go unnoticed, yet physically he found himself overexerting himself. When he stopped, he saw Ivanko's men stuffing their bags. A smirk was on the man's face. "The boss will like the quick turn around."

The teen heard a whizzing sound, a loud yelp and then the scattering of coins and jewels upon the bank vault floor. " Weird. The last time you guys broke in here you stole a drill, but this time I don't see one. No wonder Batman didn't realize something might be going down tonight." Lance turned, catching sight of the brightly clad youth whose annoyingly cheerful voice went along with the annoyingly cheerful smile. "Of course, you're going to really feel the aster when Batman gets here!"

"Aster?" Lance's eyes opened and closed, his head already pounding from the overexertion and the smell coming from the sewer.

Ivanko pointed at the costumed youth. "The brat's not with the bat! Get him!"

Lance watched Ivanko's men surge through the hole after the boy who'd already disappeared, his laughter echoing through the sewer. Mentally, it didn't take much to figure out he'd just encountered Robin, the sidekick of Batman. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"What have you gotten yourself into?" Ivanko grabbed the front of his shirt. "You're going to catch Robin, otherwise you'll get a nice zap from that collar of yours."

"No."

Lance hit the ground, the electricity from the collar coursing through his body. He watched Ivanko reach into his bag, pulling out an explosive. For a few seconds Lance's vision blurred, his mind putting together the explosives might be the original plan for getting into the bank. When his vision cleared, he saw Ivanko step through the opening he made, obviously going after Robin.

Pushing himself up from the ground hurt, yet Lance forced himself up. Stumbling through the opening, he couldn't see which way Robin, Ivanko or Ivanko's men went. The thought of running into Batman terrified him, yet he still pushed forward. He moved around a corner, bumping into something small. As luck would have it, he'd managed bumping into Robin who now stared up at him. "You're not feeling the aster, are you?"

"Aster?" Lance's mind contemplated the use of the word, mulling over the use carefully.

"Seriously, why aren't any of the villains ever turbed by me?"

"_I've heard the words 'aster' and 'turbed' before._" Lance's eyes snapped open, looking right at the young sidekick.

"Now you're turbed? Why now?"

"You're his ward, aren't you?"

Robin's eyes widened, realization hitting the young sidekick as well. He opened his mouth to say something, only for Russian curse words to accost Lance and Robin's ears. At least, Lance thought the man was cursing. Robin took a deep breath. "Oh great."

Lance watched Ivanko lift up the explosive. Quickly, he grabbed the back of Robin's cape, tugging him away from the explosive Ivanko threw in their direction. Again, he found himself blacking out, but when he awoke he awoke to blackness again. He heard a rather stern voice speaking. "He potentially knows your identity. Martian Manhunter needs to erase his memories."

"Why? Why can't someone other than W... Kid Flash know my real identity?"

"Robin, your safety is my number one priority, and someone..."

"I wish to point out the young man is awake," a third voice said.

Lance's eyes blinked as Robin appeared above him. He sat up, looking around. Robin backed off slightly. "Why'd you do it? Save me even though I really didn't need help?"

"Robin."

Lance frowned. "I was passing on a good deed."

He watched Robin turn towards a looming figure. He thought he'd be more afraid of the notorious Batman if he ever encountered the masked vigilante, and yet – somehow he wasn't afraid. After all, Robin wasn't, but Robin seemed as cheerful as always. "The answer is still no. His memories need to be wiped."

"Say what?" Lance felt his voice strain. "Nobody, and I mean nobody is erasing my memory without my permission!"

The entire cave shook, yet what happened next certainly frightened him. From above came the sound of bats disturbed by the sudden quakes interloping into their home. He glanced up. The third voice spoke again. "Oh my. Was that the boy?"

Robin turned towards Batman. "He's how they got in this time, but looking into his past..."

"What have I told you about indiscriminately hacking, Robin?"

"It wasn't indiscriminate. There are incidents where he used to be."

"He's also got a juvenile record."

"Yeah, well, I likely would to if you didn't take me in."

"We'll discuss this later." Batman stormed away, while Lance flopped back down nursing a bunch of aches from the explosion.

The third voice spoke again. "You need not worry. The young master has a way with all the members of the Justice League. You're in good hands, young man."


End file.
